त्वदीयास् तव पुत्राश् च वीक्षमाणा दिशो दश ॥
संशुष्कास्याश् चलन्नेत्राः प्रस्विन्ना लोमहर्षणाः ॥
पलायनकृतोत्साहा निरुत्साहा द्विषज्जये ॥
गोत्रनामभिर् अन्योन्यं क्रन्दन्तो जीवितैषिणः ॥
हतान् पुत्रांस् तथा पितॄन् सुहृत्संबन्धिबान्धवान् ॥
प्रातिष्ठन्त समुत्सृज्य त्वरयन्तो हयद्विपान् ॥
tvadīyās tava putrāś ca vīkṣamāṇā diśo daśa ||
saṃśuṣkāsyāś calannetrāḥ prasvinnā lomaharṣaṇāḥ ||
palāyanakṛtotsāhā nirutsāhā dviṣajjaye ||
gotranāmabhir anyonyaṃ krandanto jīvitaiṣiṇaḥ ||
hatān putrāṃs tathā pitṝn suhṛtsaṃbandhibāndhavān ||
prātiṣṭhanta samutsṛjya tvarayanto hayadvipān ||
Your warriors and your sons, glancing about in every direction, with parched mouths, with darting eyes, in a sweat, with hair standing on end, thinking only of flight, having lost heart in any hope of overcoming the enemy, calling to one another by lineage and name, longing to save their lives — abandoning their slain sons and fathers, friends, kinsmen by marriage, and relatives — rushed away, urging on their horses and elephants.
05e1c5d6093c · published Jul 19, 2026, 3:22:09 PM UTC
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Before a single boy, the most formidable host flees, abandoning even fallen sons and fathers: fear for one's own life overpowers even love and the duty of burial. Thus is shown the final degree of disintegration to which panic reduces a man — he leaves the bodies of his kin behind to save himself. It is significant that the warriors call to one another "by lineage and name" — in their confusion seeking support in a name, in a clan, in someone near. The verse teaches that fear for one's own life can overpower even the most sacred bonds, driving a man to leave the bodies of his kin unburied; that panic reduces a man to something he would have recoiled from at any other time; and that one youth's valor, which turned an entire host into such a rout, reveals the full measure both of his own greatness and of the pettiness of the multitude, who in their fear forgot both sons and fathers.